Page:The White Slave, or Memoirs of a Fugitive.djvu/74

 It is true that we had fled from the greatest outrage that can be inflicted upon a wife and a husband. But that was no excuse, — not even the slightest palliation. Slaves are not permitted to fly at all. It is their duty — alas! that such a word should be so prostituted! — to submit without a murmur, to all the insults, outrages and oppression of their masters.

I clasped my wife to my bosom, with almost the same trembling earnestness, with which she clung to me. 1 felt, as she did, that it was the last time; — and this idea sunk into my heart with a bitterness, which all my late ecstasies served only to aggravate. I almost stifled her. with eager kisses; — but the fever that glowed in her cheek was not the flush of pleasure; and those deep sighs she heaved, — they could not be mistaken for the pantings of delight, The speedy separation that threatened us, was not only terrible in anticipation, but it seemed to destroy all our capacity for present enjoyment. But for that, with Cassy in my arms, what should I have cared for chains and a dungeon! — Dreading that, her lips lost all their sweetness, her bosom was an uneasy pillow, and though I could not leave her, every embrace seemed to increase both her distress and mine.

We passed several hours in this way, without any interruption. We had not tasted food that day, — and nobody brought us even a cup of cold water. The heat and closeness of the room, into which the air had no admission, aggravated the fever in our blood, and made our thirst almost intolerable. How I longed for the cool spring, the balmy air, the freedom, we had lost!

Toward evening, we heard somebody approaching; and I soon recognized the voices of colonel Moore and his overseer. They opened the door, and bade us come out. At first, the light dazzled my eyes so that I could scarcely distinguish one object from another; but in a little while I was enabled to see that our visitors were accompanied by Peter, a tall fellow, with a very suspicious smile, the spy and tell-tale of the place, the detestation of all the servants, but the especial favorite of Mr Stubbs, and his regular assistant on all occasions.